"[Researchers] estimate that the Trichoplax genome contains 11,514 protein coding genes, on the basis of a combination of homology-based and ab initio methods (Supplementary Information)."

Comments

"Nearly 87% of these predicted genes have detectable similarity to proteins known from other animals, and most (83%) of the ~7,800 gene families that are conserved between the sea anemone and bilaterians (ref 23 in article) have homologues in Trichoplax as detected by BLAST. Trichoplax
genes have an intron density (7.6 per kb) comparable to that found in vertebrates (8.5 per
kb) and the starlet sea anemone (6.7 per kb)(ref 23)."